Unions cry foul as sweetheart deal ends MSIL strike

In what is being seen as a master-stroke in labour management, Maruti Suzuki, instead of letting 30 worker-leaders known to be trouble makers go, made them an offer they could not resist.

The company allowed them to resign following an internal inquiry and agreed to pay top-up cash, in addition to the normal dues for the period they served the company.

The initiative had the backing of the Haryana government and there was also the consideration of the dim prospects for re-employment that the dismissed leaders had in the Gurgaon-Manesar auto belt.

The strategy, which finally worked like a charm, was to take the leaders out of the scene and thus quell the agitation.

It turned out to be a win-win solution with the state government getting to keep its vote bank and Maruti ridding itself of troublemakers by paying about Rs5 lakh to each worker over and above their wages.

Workers who resigned included agitation leader Sonu Gujjar. They have now become traitors in the eyes of their colleagues, instead of martyrs had they been dismissed by Maruti Suzuki.